Folding seat for center-door cars.



c. H. ANnEHsoN.

FOLDINGSEAT FOR CENTER DOOR CARSr APPLHIATlO-N FILED OCT- 19. |914.

Patented oet. 30,1917.

N I/ E N T OI? A Harney 3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

If l './VESSES C. H. ANDERSON.

FOLDING SEAT FDH CENTER DOOR CARS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. I9. I9I4.

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APPLICATION FILED OCT. I9. ISH-1.l

Patented 00h30, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

INI/ENTOR /V/TNESSES 3@ d, andL con'nbinationsk of. parts as willl bek more CHARLES E. ANDERSON, vor. cINoiNNATLoHIo. i

f FOLDING SEAfI.1 EOE oENTE'E-noon c AEs.

specification of Letters Patent. l

Apiiiieation mea october 19, 1914] serial No. se7,371.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARIES H. ANDER- soN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamill 5 ton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding Seats for CenterDoor Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full` clear, .and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled'in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. y Y

My invention relates to ,improvements in folding Seats for cars.y i

` Y Many of the elevated land subway Vcars are provided with center andend doors, the center doors being used only lduringrush hours. The center doors slide in av direction parallel with the lside ofthe car, and the 2o object of my invention isvto utilize theV space jadjacent these doors forseating passengers when the doors are not in use, and it consists in seats hinged to cross panels of the car" and adapted to be turned up against said panels when not in use, and locking means for holding the seats against the panels and for preventing the door from being opened when the seats are down in their operative positions. s

My invention further consists in the parts fully explained andpointed out in? the claim. 5 In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in side elevation, partly in section showing the two seats in'y the/spaceintermediate-the cross panels of a center door car; Fig. 2 is a View showing one'ofthe seats folded up against its panel; Fig. 3 is l-49a rear-face View of one ofthe seats showing its support, also the latch and sliding ,door locking shaft; Fig. 4l is a View in plan of thelower link of the pair supporting the 'l outer endof theseat; Fig. 4a isa view in i745 section of one end of the link; Fig. visfa similar view of the upper link of the pair; Fig. Gis a similar View of the ,link -supporting theinner end of the seat, Fig. 7 `is a view Yinsection showinglthemlatching and y e@ unlockingl means forfthe seat Aand isa view in' Seotion'of theframe carrying the sliding and rocking shaft.

In cars of 4the type for which .my improved seat'is particularly adapted, .the cen# K.55 ter door.- slides parallel with the side of the car, and-the seats at the side of the center entrance terminate in ayertical panel` or partition l adjacent each side of 'thev door frame. Secured to the outer, or adjacent faces o-f the two panels l arethe U-shaped Patente-d Oct. v`30, 1917.

panels l, are shown hollow and made of sheet metal but this is .unimportant,y asf they may be of wood. 3 are the seats, one carried by each panel, and adapted when in theirk normal position,"to abut or come' close enough together to form a continuous seat 'extending from one panel to the other, and ofcourse blockinggthe doorway, 'thefsliding f door lfnming theV back for said seats. fv'Asy the supporting means for both seatsfare ,ofykone will Suice for alike, a description both. c

. Pivotallyfsecured or hinged to the frame '2 at the lower end ofI the latter, ispthe U- shape link 4, shown detachedfin Figs. 43nd u 4a'. This link'is provided at the free ends of its two side members with holes `5` for the passageof a bolt orpins 6,y which connect it'with the U-shaped link 7, and'is also pro-` vided `ron the upper faceoffeach of its side at V'10, so that when the, lugs 9 onyoke 7 have members -with an elongatedrecessed seat`8, the latterbeing partlyopen at the top ask Yclearly shown'in Fig. "4t, 'forethe entrance and vreception of they elongated. outwardly yprojecting,llugs 9 formed at the extreme outer ends of the sidelmembersof the linky'7. These recessed'seats-fone in eachside mem` ber of the'link) arepartlyclosed at thetop, as

been enteredin the open top of thev recess, f

is provided near the Aout'erends of yits side members with the elongated holes 11 for `the passa-geef the pinor bolt 6, which as bethe outer 'eind ofthejl'atter.V

the ears 16 eachhaving a hole through/saine `and then moved downwardly thereinv they .will rest under the overhanging portion 10 'of the links v4, ing

'sition between the members of linkf, kand ,fore explained is carried by the link l and l I. yconnects the latter with link 7. This link 7 E vis also provided at its opposite or closed end, vwith knuckles '12 for its pivotal, jor hinge attachment to the bolt 18 carried by brackets p 14 secured to the underside of the seatzneary y f 15 is thetop link, also U-shape,fasfshown j y in Fig. G, and providediat its outer end with lio for the passage of boltor pin 17, ycarried by bracket 18" secured to the underside" ofl theV 60 metalV frames 2, one on each panel. The *s Y seat 3 near 4the inner' end of the'la'tter, and

is provided at the free ends of its side members, with the ears 1:9h'avi-n'gholesthrough same for the pins or bolts 20, which ksecures it to the frame 2 at the upper Vend 1of the latter. The link 15 is also provided on the upper face of its side members withv the flu-gs 21 against which the stop 22 securedto the underside of the seat 3' ab'uts when lthe seat is in its operative position, and with the soft rubber cushion 23 which contacts with the panelil when the seatis turned up against the latter as shown in F ig. 2. i

The seat 3 consists of a metal bottom plate '2f-l, l-iaving downwardly flanged edges 25, the eXtreme edges 26 of the flanges being turned inwardly as shown. This Abottom plate is covered with felt 27 held in place by Ia canvas covering 28, which is faced with ratan 29. -The ratan facing yis carried down and underthe edge fianges 25 Vof the bottom vplate and thenv up against the inside kof said. flange, and is'hel'din place,by the clamping strips 30 each of which bears at one end against the.l facing 29 atthe point where the latter bends over the inwardly turned edges of the flanges, and at their other endsfagainst the tongues 31, cut out from the body of the plate'21l and bent downwardly toengage and cla-mp the upper ends of the strips '30.

The bottom plate 24 is also provided with akeeper 32, which is adapted to be engaged by the latch 33, when the seat is turned up against its panel 1 as shown in Fig. 2. This latch is mounted in the casingt secured to and passing through the panel 1, and the casing is provided at lthe rear of the panel with arecessed'seat' in which the spring actuated plunger 36 is mounted, the upper end of said plungerbearing against the underside ofthe tail of the latch` 33 and ,y'ieldingly holding the hook nr outer end of the latch downwardly so aste engage the keeper '82. y

Journaled vkin bearings on the casingd, a't

ythe rearof the panel l, is the slid-ing and rocking shaft 37, which isk provided at its front end with a handle 38 by which it may 1be rockedand moved longitudinally. n This shaft is also provided intermediate vits ends with a finger 39 adapted to be moved into position over the tail of Athe `latch for depressing `same to disengage the latch from -the keeper. lThe casing 34 is slotted, as at 40; so as to permit the linger' A39 to be moved toward and away from A-thetail of the latch, and the lower wall of this slotdips or is out away in the plane of the tail of the latch as at 4l, so as to permit the finger A39 to be moved downwardly when said finger isV in 'a position over the latch. In the other position of 'the jfinger 39, 'the latter will engage 'the bottom wallof the slot andbe yprei-*exited from turning.` The handle on .theV` shaft is ing fcaaf-ried through the car, hence by constructino` the arts so that the shaft must s. kP.

*be moved longitudinally before it can be turned to release the seat, all danger of the acci-dental release of the latter is avoided.

`The yshaft 37 lextends crosswise the panel andbeyon'd same and into the path of movement of the sliding'l door of the car, so that when the lshaft has been moved to a position where its vfinger 39 can engage thelatch to disengage the latter ,from its keeper on the seat,the inner end of the shaft will project behind the sliding door and into the path of `movement of thesame, so that the door will be -llocked against opening movement `prior to the release of the seat from the panel. The parts are so proportioned and located 4that the shaft 37 cannot be moved `toria position where its linger 39 can engage the latch until the door has been closed, as the latter prevents complete throw ofthe shaft, hence with thisv improvement, the shaft forms lock for the door when the seat is down, and prevents the seat -from being released to be loweredwhenfthe door is opened, thusv eliminating the possibility of the door 'being opened accidentally or otherwise when the seats are down or in operative position.

If desired the shaft may beprovide'd with the peripheral grooves 42, and the bearing for the shaft with a spring plunger 43 adapted to rest in one' of said grooves and lhold the shaft in its two ,positionsagainst accidental or creeping movement duetto the swaying of lthe car.

Assuming that the seats are folded up against their panels asv in Fig. 2, and it is desired toflower them, the shaft 37 on the paneladjacen't the rear end ofthe sliding door is 'grasped and pushed linwardly to lock the door in lits closed positionand is then given a part rotation so as to lift the latch to release the seat.l When the seat is released 'it is free `to be turned down, and wilt be locked by the lugs 9 on link 7 entering -the recessed seats 8, the VAoverhanging portion I0 of said seatsk operating to lock the two links together. Each seat is about half as long as the door way is wide, so that the two when lowered, lcompletely close the door way. To raise the seats, so as to open up the door way each seatis grasped atits free end andv pulled upwardly thus causing its link 2'? to move on its bolt or pin until its lugs 9 are clear of the overhanging portion'lOfof the recessed* seats, and then by pressing upwardly on the'lower links, the 'lugs 9 will move out of the seatsS thusleaving thev seat .free to be turned upwardly against the panel. In this movementthe end of the seat adjacent the panel is carried upwardly by its link .15, while the link 7 .folds withinlink 4,. and when in its inoperative position, its lower end rests clear of the floor of the car.

By this arrangement for supporting the seat, I can use much longer seats than could possibly be used if they were hinged direct to the panel, and when turned up, the outer face of the seat being exposed, form a nish for the panels. When the seat is down the weight thereof locks the jointed links, and this lock can only be broken by positively lifting` the seat.

It is evident that many slight changes might be resorted to in the relative arrangement of parts shown and described without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. Hence I would have it understood that I do not wish to confine myself to the exact construction and arrangement of parts shown and described, but

Copies of this patent may be obtained for Having fully described my invention what port below the point of attachment of the first mentioned link and to ythe Vseat near the outer end of the latter.

Inv testimony whereof, I have signed this specioaton in theV presence of two subseribing Witnesses.

CHARLES H. ANDERSON.

Witnesses: D. H. AonERsoN,

' WM. E. NAEGEL.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, '.D. C. 

